The vice president met with gun control advocates and victims groups today

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Joe Biden said today that the president is prepared to take unilateral action in order to implement stricter gun control measures. “The president is going go act,” he said. “There are executive orders, executive action that can be taken. We haven’t decided what that is yet, but we’re compiling it all.”

“The president and I are determined to take action. This is not an exercise in photo opportunities,” Biden added.

Biden’s comments came shortly before a meeting with victims groups and gun control advocates at the White House today, as part of the gun violence task force set up by Obama in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

During the two-hour meeting, participants said, Mr. Biden and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told the group that President Obama was planning a comprehensive effort to pass legislation and use executive orders to prevent gun violence.

“Clearly they are not talking about just having a conversation with the American people,” said John Feinblatt, who attended the meeting on behalf of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, an outspoken advocate for greater gun control measures.

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Feinblatt added that Biden said the task force would pursue both a “legislative plan that could be achieved and a plan for executive actions.”

Obama has given Biden, who will also meet with gun rights groups this week, until the end of January to come up with concrete proposals on gun control.

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.